ATA: 'Much' to 'support' in DOT's proposal despite objectionable provisions The US Air Transport Assn. took a cautious approach to the US Dept. of Transportation's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on new airline consumer protections, saying in comments filed with the regulator late Thursday that "there is much [in the proposed rule] that ATA and its members support," particularly regarding the transparency of information provided to customers, though the organization does voice a number of major objections. Link
IATA predicts India’s airlines will lose $400 million in 2010 IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said that India's airlines are expected to post a $400 million loss in 2010 despite an increase in passenger traffic, and that a coordinated policy approach among government ministries is “urgently needed” to shore up the gains made in India’s aviation industry. Link
European Regions Airline Assn. demands volcanic ash compensation European Regions Airline Assn. airline and airport members are not accepting that Europe’s politicians and regulators have not yet taken any action to provide financial compensation to the industry following the volcanic ash crisis in April and agreed to seek to recover financial damages through legal action. The decision was taken up late last week at the association’s AGM in Barcelona. Link
Etihad focuses on point-to-point traffic instead of rivals' East-West strategy Etihad Airways Head of Network Planning Imed Ben Abdallah said the carrier is pursuing a growth strategy "distinct" from Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways by focusing on developing point-to-point traffic to/from its Abu Dhabi base rather than pursuing broad based East-West transit traffic. Link
UAE's RAK Airways to relaunch services on 10 October Ras Al Khaimah's latest attempt to establish its own airline will culminate with the commencement of flights in two weeks' time. The emirate will restart services with RAK Airways, under another new color scheme, operating to the cities of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, and Kozhikode in India. Link
Other News
US FAA on Friday proposed a $4.9 million civil penalty against Evergreen International Airlines for "allegedly using pilots on 232 revenue flights who had not been trained in accordance with an FAA-approved training program." The Oregon-based cargo carrier operated the improper flights between Feb. 19 and July 9, 2009 "on aircraft equipped with a new flight management system that was different enough from the prior system that it required a specific training program for pilots who were flying the aircraft," the agency said in a statement. "The FAA alleges Evergreen did not complete its FAA-approved training for pilots before assigning them to fly revenue trips using the new FMS." FAA said that while Evergreen line pilots received ground training and a check ride on the new FMS, "the company did not provide required familiarization flights supervised by the company’s check pilots despite being told to do so by the FAA. The familiarization flights are part of the FAA-approved training program for Evergreen aircraft equipped with the FMS." The airline subsequently "ensured [FAA] that its pilots are trained in accordance with its FAA-approved training program and continues to operate under an FAA-approved training program," the agency stated. Administrator Randy Babbit said that, though the airline currently is in compliance, "this penalty is appropriate because requiring operators to complete required, approved training is the only way to make sure crews are fully qualified to operate the equipment and systems to manage flights safely." Evergreen has 30 days to respond to FAA.
Norwegian Air Shuttle announced Friday it plans to order wide-body aircraft as it gears up to begin its first long-haul flights in 2011. CEO Bjoern Kjos told Bloomberg that the carrier held talks with Airbus and Boeing and will choose between ordering the A350 or 787. Because there are delivery backlogs for both aircraft, Kjos said Norwegian may agree to take older models such as the A330 or 767. According to Bloomberg, the carrier is planning its first routes from Oslo Gardermoen and Stockholm Arlanda to New York JFK and Bangkok respecitvely in the second half of 2011. The long-haul aircraft order could include the introduction of two aircraft initially and two more the year after, the news agency reported. Decisions on the fleet will also based on “the prices we can obtain in the market and availability,” Kjos added. The Fornebu-based carrier is Europe’s fourth-largest LCC and expects to launch up to 15 long-distance routes over the next few years. According to its website, Norwegian currently operates 52 single-aisle jet aircraft, comprising 25 737-800s and 27 737-300s. It has 63 737s on order after adding 15 to a contract with Boeing at the Farnborough Airshow in July.
LOT Polish Airlines subsidiary EuroLOT is in talks with ATR and Bombardier regarding an order for 14 ATR72-600s or Q400s, respectively, and a further six options to renew its ATR fleet, EuroLOT President and CEO Leszek Sieluk said on the sidelines of the European Regions Airline Association AGM in Barcelona late last week. “We aim for a total renewal of our ATR fleet and hope to make a decision in the last quarter,” he said, noting that the decision will be in “deliberation” with LOT Polish Airlines. “We [are in discussions] with them, to see what their needs are in terms of their future route network.” EuroLOT is owned 62.1% by the Polish state and the remainder is held by LOT, which is also state-owned.
Afriqiyah Airways and Libyan Airlines expect to receive government approval to merge by Oct. 15, the Arab Air Carrier Organization reported. Libyan African Aviation Holding Co. Chairman Sabri Shadi said the two carriers plan to spend €4 billion ($5.4 billion) on new aircraft by the end of 2012. Libyan Airlines CEO Mohamed Ibsem said last year that the union of Afriqiyah Airways under the Libyan African Aviation Holding Co. umbrella likely has paved the way for a merger of the state-owned carriers.
Aergo Capital Limited and ASL Aviation Group reached a sale and purchase agreement under which ASL will acquire aircraft assets valued at $250 million. It will take ownership of "various Irish aviation leasing entities" including Safair Lease Finance Limited and Safair Operations and will acquire five 737-800s, five A300 B4 freighters and three ATR 72-500s. The acquisition is expected to be finalized by the end of November.
Atlas Air signed an ACMI contract with TNT Airways to provide 747-400F service for TNT's international express air network. The 747-400F will be based in Liege.
Cabot Aviation arranged the sale of one V2500-powered A320-200 to Kuala Lumpur-based lessor Phoenix Aircraft Malaysia on behalf of Cyprus Airways.
AVIATION QUOTE
If the plan will enable me to remain in the air for practice by the hour instead of by the second, I hope to acquire skill sufficient to overcome the difficulties inherent in flight.
— Wilbur Wright, letter to Octave Chanute, October 1900.
ON THIS DATE
September 27, 1956
The 1st piloted airplane to exceed Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) is the rocket-powered Bell X-2.
The Bell X-2 was a rocket-powered, swept-wing research aircraft designed to investigate the structural effects of aerodynamic heating as well as stability and control effectiveness at high speeds and altitudes. The program was developed jointly in 1945 by Bell Aircraft Corporation, the U.S. Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to explore aerodynamic problems of supersonic flight and to expand the speed and altitude regimes obtained with the earlier X-1 series of research aircraft.
DAILY VIDEO
EDITOR’S CHOICE
HUMOR
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CARRIER PILOT
(Note: Every day is groundhog day.)
• 0400 - Awakened to sound of power buffers banging against your stateroom bulkhead. • 0515 - Awakened again to the 1-MC, for "Sweepers, sweepers, man your brooms. Sweep down all passageways and ladderways. Give the ship a clean sweep both fore and aft. Now sweepers, away." • 0600 - Alarm clock goes off. Reset alarm for 0900. • 0730 - Sleep through breakfast. Most aviators don't even know that the ship serves breakfast. • 0800 - Reset alarm when alarm accidentally goes off prior to 0900. • 0900 - Begin hitting snooze every 7 minutes until roommates complain. • 0930 - Stagger into shower. Forget soap. Go back and get it. Realize you left your key in your flight suit again. Pound on door until sleepy roommates wake up to let you in. Return to shower. Forget Shampoo. Use soap to wash your hair instead. • 1000 - Walk to the squadron ready room to see if anybody wants to go to lunch. Receive annoyed looks by Lieutenant Commanders who have been there since 0730. • 1030 - Lunch. • 1045 - Lunch is over. The day officially begins. • 1100 - Back to stateroom for a quick nap. • 1300 - Get up and walk to the ready room for a meeting. Drink coffee with the other junior officers until the skipper shows up. • 1345 - Squadron Duty Officer calls skipper to remind him that the meeting was supposed to start at 1300. • 1346 - Skipper walks in. 1300 meeting begins. • 1346-1530 - Some Lieutenant Commander or other drones on and on about some project of his. Amuse yourself trying to tie a noose out of your shoelace. • 1525 - The Lieutenant Commander is finally cut off so that the flight crews can use the ready room to brief for the first mission. • 1526 - Begin flight planning. Realize you do not have time to be thorough. Decide that your key phrase in the brief will be to "remain flexible." • 1530 - Brief your crew/flight on what is expected of them. Remind them repeatedly that in today's rapidly changing environment, it is important to "remain flexible." Act like you know what you are doing. • 1600 - Finish brief. Walk down to the mission planning office to find out all the information you should have just briefed your crew on. • 1615 - Go to Maintenance Control to read the Aircraft Discrepancy Book to find out what other pilots have found wrong with your plane. • 1630 - Preflight and start aircraft. Listen to the Air Boss scream on tower frequency at some other pilot whose fly-by was a little too aggressive. • 1715 - Begin taxiing to the catapult. Realize that you should have used the head after drinking all that coffee in the meeting. • 1730 - Catapult shot. Pressurized steam accelerates you from 0 to 135 mph in 0.8 seconds. The coolest feeling in the entire world. It requires the same force needed to launch a VW Beetle straight up 6 miles. • 1730-1830 - Perform a one-hour mission flawlessly. Bombs on target. CAP in position. Everybody has plenty of fuel. Life for one hour travels at the speed of sound. • 1830 - Get set up in the "Marshall Stack" to await your turn at a night landing on a pitching carrier deck. Fly a "rails pass" for an OK 3-wire. Mission is over. Just in time to get some dinner before the evening movie. • 1845 - Debrief with the Landing Signals Officer on the outstanding pass you just flew. Use both hands to simulate your approach. Lots of back-slapping all-around, and it's off to dinner. • 1900 - Dinner complete, stop by the mini-mart for a bag of microwave popcorn. Proceed to the back of the ready-room, where 12 others aviators are already in line with their own bags. • 1915 - The skipper arrives, and the 1900 movie begins. The whole wardroom knows all the lines, because it is one you've all seen at least a dozen times so far this cruise. Every two minutes the sound is blanked out by the crashing sound of landing gear hitting the deck seven feet over your head. • 2115 - The movie is over. Sign three training forms with yesterday's date. Put them in the bottom of a Lieutenant Commander's inbox so it looks like he ignored it until it was overdue. • 2130 - The junior officers debate the merits of sleeping or waiting until the chowhall opens again for midrats. Hunger wins out over fatigue, and you wait up another hour playing Duke-Nukem in the ready room. • 2230 - Everybody still awake goes to midrats for a slider (a greasy hockey-puck-like hamburger). Washing it down with a bowl of "auto-dog" (soft-serve ice cream) you head to the rack for some much-needed sleep. • 2300 - Fail asleep to the sound of your roommate yet again telling you all about the trials and tribulations he is having with his girlfriend back home. You stopped caring three months ago. • 2300-0400 - Dream about your next port of call.
Repeat cycle 180 times until end of cruise.
TRIVIA
Google Airports
Need a hint? PM me.
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And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
ANSWERS: 1. SRQ, Sarasota-Bradenton Regional Airport, Sarasota, FL 2. BHM, Birmingham Int’l Airport, Birmingham, AL 3. FRA, Frankfurt Int’l, Frankfurt, Germany 4. DCA, Reagan National Airport, Washington, D.C. 5. EBB, Entebe Airport, Entebe, Uganda 6. JFK, John F. Kennedy Int’l Airport, Jamaica, NY 7. BUF, Niagara Falls Int’l Airport, Buffalo, NY 8. PHL, Philadelphia Int’l Airport, Philadelphia, PA 9. EWR, Liberty Int’l Airport, Newark, NJ 10. PGD, Charlotte County Airport, Punta Gorda, FL
And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
